Oxford University’s Women’s Rugby team has released a naked charity calendar, triggering widespread attention from the national press and social media. To boost exposure before the Varsity game, the team has chosen to pose naked and work with Beat, a charity fighting against eating disorders and promoting positive body image.

The team is currently preparing for the annual clash with rivals Cambridge, a match that will take place in Twickenham for the first time. Delighted at the prospect of playing on the same pitch as the men’s team on 10th December, OURFC Women seized the opportunity to seek publicity in the run up to its upcoming Varsity fixture.

Focusing particularly on realistic rugby positions, the photos taken at the team’s Iffley grounds aim to raise the sport’s profile among women. In a video explaining the team’s mentality and approach to playing a sport commonly stereotyped as masculine and brutal, the women say that it is “just another way for [them] to enjoy [themselves]”, and encourage other young women to give rugby a try.

As well as promoting women’s rugby, the calendar supports the work of Beat, which is based in Norfolk. Fighting for a more comprehensive approach to eating disorders in the UK, the organisation helps people of all ages struggling with eating disorders and body image. In their calendar, the OURFC women wanted to show how positively the body can be perceived, insisting that their photos were not photoshopped before printing.

“Rugby is a sport for players of a variety of strengths and sizes”, the team’s captain Carly Bliss told Cherwell. Donating £1 from each calendar sold, the team hopes to reach or surpass the amount raised for mental health campaign Mind Your Head the last time the charity calendar initiative took place. Proceeds will also go towards promoting the club’s development, following financial troubles that have threatened the team’s continued existence in the past.

OUWRFC President Helen Lamb suggested the undetaking has also strengthened the bonds between team members, telling Cherwell, “The majority of the team had never considered doing a naked calendar before but it was obvious that everyone was really keen to give it a go.

“It allows us to demonstrate the hard work we put in all year round and highlight the level of women’s rugby at Oxford and Cambridge.”

The calendars are currently available to buy online, with a discount for members of the University

Terrorism contigency posters have been distributed across the University, including at University libraries, Merton, St Catherine’s, Christ Church, and the History Faculty buildings.

The posters encourage students to evacuate or hide in the event of an “incident”, before going on to mention terrorism explicitly. One section reads, “Staff and students should remain alert to the danger of terrorism but should not let the fear of terrorism stop them from going about their day-to-day life as normal.”

The University has been keen to reassure anxious students, including one passage on the poster’s design reading, “the purpose of this guidance is to alert and not to alarm – it is not being provided in response to any specific information.”

The posters were recently circulated in an email, to all students in the History Faculty, which referred to the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month. The notice stated, “In light of events in Paris over the weekend all University departments have been asked to circulate the attached information sheet. Colleges have been similarly advised. Thames Valley Police advises that people should continue to go about their business as normal but remain vigilant.”

The History Faculty’s Head of Administration and Finance, David Hyland, who sent the original email, said that he decided “that it would also be helpful to circulate it now by email to all students, in light of recent events in Paris and elsewhere.” He added, “Not all History students come into the main Faculty building all that often and so several students might not have read the notice.”

In a separate statement, a University spokesperson underlined the University’s commitment to the government’s anti-terror ‘Prevent’ programme and that the alerts were purely precautionary. The statement read, “In the light of a number of armed attacks around the world recently, the University’s Security Sub-committee, in consultation with OUSU, has developed an information sheet for staff and students on what to do in the event of such an attack.

“It is important to note that this information is not being provided in response to a specific threat to the University, and staff and students should not be unnecessarily alarmed by it. However, the University believes that, given recent events around the world, it is sensible and appropriate to provide guidance on this issue, as it routinely does on other health and safety matters.”

OUSU’s BME Students Officer, Nikhil Venkatesh, told Cherwell, “It is of course important that the University and colleges take the security of students seriously, and the attacks in Paris show that we cannot assume we are always safe from terrorism. However, we need to be aware that increased fears about terrorism can be particularly harmful to Muslim students.

“They are now more likely to face Islamophobic attacks, or feel that people are scared of them, when the vast majority of Muslims have nothing to do with terrorism. In fact, there are more racist attacks by white supremacists in Britain than there are terrorist attacks by Islamist extremists. The security of everyone is best served when we stand together, regardless of religion or background.”

Venkatesh continued, “This all ties into our concerns about the University’s implementation of ‘Prevent’: this legislation requires that staff monitor student events, our web usage and political views, and refer those who they think are at risk of ‘radicalisation’ to the police. We know that Muslim and BME students are more likely to be suspects in this regard, particularly as Prevent defines ‘extremism’ as holding views incompatible with ‘traditional British values’, whatever they are. There was a case of a student at another university who was arrested after a librarian saw him reading a book on terrorism. He was writing a thesis about terrorism and how to fight against it, but because he was Muslim he was immediately suspected.”

Analysis: Keep calm and stay vigilant: the need for doublethink (Freddie Hopkinson)

I must admit that, last Friday, when I first received an email from the History Faculty “in light of events in Paris over the weekend”, I was a little surprised. Even with attacks as close to home as those in Paris, it is always hard to envisage something like that ever happening to you. Looking again at the email made me realise that, as much as I would personally like to carry on as if nothing has happened, something about the events of two weeks ago has made people’s behaviour change. On one level or another, this year’s wave of terror attacks has found its way deep into the public’s subconscious.

The leaflet makes it clear that we should be “alert and not alarmed”, that we must not let fear of terrorism stop us from going about our day-to-day lives as normal, that, in the words of Thames Valley Police, we should remain “vigilant”. In all of these statements there is a strange paradox between the desire to ignore and defy the message of terror attacks and the need to be alert. It is almost as if the university authorities are afraid to admit that they are paranoid about the dangers of an attack.

If you bother to read the leaflet, you’ll find that it is mainly common sense. It seems to have been written long before any specific attack and screams the obvious: if you see an armed man or woman on campus, for God’s sake, call the police and get away.

What is more interesting about its circulation in some colleges and in my faculty is that people feel they have to say something now. Taking either perspective, this overreaction, or understatement, of the threat that could possibly face us represents a localised reaction to what is going on all over the world.

The wave of terror attacks that has devastated France, Kenya, and countless other places this year has, for the first time since 9/11, really forced people all over the world to reconsider their role in the global conflicts fundamentalists are trying to instigate. Sadly, this leaflet is yet another example of us being reluctantly drawn into a game of fear with our potential attackers. In universities all over the place, the depressing state of affairs that means students are being reminded to stay vigilant is a sign that the times have changed – we can no longer naturally assume safety on our own campuses.

Perhaps one day there will be an attack like the one described in the leaflet here in Oxford, and perhaps the instructions on this leaflet will save someone’s life – I can only hope and pray that there isn’t. In the meantime, we need to take the leaflet’s advice and not be too alarmed by the possibility of an attack.

In a global context, our continuation of our studies, our interests and our social lives is the most significant thing that we can do to defy those that want to intimidate us. Only by carrying on as normal will we show up the warped logic behind terrorism.

Hundreds of students are expected to march through Oxford in a peaceful protest against air strikes on Syria.

Over 400 people have so far shown interest in attending on the protest’s Facebook event, organised in co-ordination with the national Stop the War Coalition.

The protest comes in response to the Prime Minister’s announcement that he will call a vote in the Commons on Syrian air strikes next month if he expects to win it, even without the backing of the UN Security Council.

A spokesperson from Oxford Stop the War, which is organising the protest, told Cherwell, “As predicted, the Prime Minister has put forward an illogical and misguided argument for British air strikes in Syria. He has not been able to explain how British airstrikes would alter the situation, particularly given the fact that Isis has continued to grow during the past 13 months of US led airstrikes.

“It is clear that British action would result in more civilian deaths and more Syrian refugees desperately fleeing the carnage that engulfs their country. The British public were rightly moved and upset by the pictures of despairing Syrian refugees during the summer and so it seems ludicrous that the British government would act to worsen the situation. In fact, the action Cameron is proposing is likely to lead to a deep civil war, ensuring more bloodshed, more carnage and more refugees.

“British intervention in Syria is precisely what Isis wants, magnifying Islamophobia and fuelling their narrative of division between Islam and the West. British action fortifies their propaganda, increasing their numbers and intensifying the terrorist threat to our streets.

“If our government is to take the threat of Isis seriously, it must first go after our supposed ‘allies’ that supply them with arms and trade, enabling them to continue expanding.

“We are asking the good people of Oxford to gather on Saturday afternoon (12pm – Bonn Square) to show David Cameron and his government that we will not be silent as he attempts to drag us into yet another hopeless war.”

The water supply at the Maths and Philosophy faculties has been cut off this week in an alleged E. coli scare.

Following a routine safety check, higher-thanusual levels of E. coli bacteria were found in the water in the Mathematical Institute and the Radcliffe Humanities buildings. Staff and students have been unable to wash their hands or drink the water in the buildings since the discovery was made.

E. coli bacteria are found in human and animal faeces, and are one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal infections and diarrhoea. It is also a common source of food poisoning.

An anonymous employee at the Maths Institute told The Oxford Times, “We came in this morning and they’ve all been warning employees that there might be E. coli in the water and it isn’t safe to drink.

“Everyone here is really grumbling.”

They added that bottles of water and hand sanitiser were being distributed in the common room.

A University spokesperson said in a statement, “We routinely test the water in our buildings and a recent set of results showed higher bacteria levels than normal in the Mathematical Institute and Radcliffe Humanities buildings.

“We immediately sought expert advice and, as a precaution, have provided bottled water for people working in the buildings.

“All the staff have been advised not to drink tap water while we take measures to resolve the matter. We are continuing to test the water and will notify staff as soon as the situation is resolved.”

The University water supply is managed privately, rather than by Thames Water.

Speaking to Cherwell, a third-year Philosophy student commented, “You might say that an E. coli outbreak is a shitty situation.

“That said, everyone here’s being quite philosophical about the whole thing.”

Magdalen College JCR has passed a motion in solidarity with suspended students against an “error” in the terms and conditions of the 2016 Commemoration Ball which would have banned them from attending.

In the initial terms and conditions laid out for the famous June Ball, clause 2.5 read, “In accordance with Magdalen College’s policy regarding out of residence students…the Senior Tutor and Deans of Arts will not grant any request from any student who is out of residence, whether on health or disciplinary grounds, to enter the college for the purpose of attending the Ball.”

Immediately prior to the JCR meeting last Sunday, where the matter was set to be discussed, the Senior Tutor, Dr Mark Pobjoy, wrote to the JCR President, Rosie Dickinson, acknowledging that “It is clear there is a mistake in the terms and conditions.” The Senior Tutor also said that he would work with the Ball Committee to review applications by suspended students on a case-by-case basis.

At its subsequent meeting, the JCR mandated the President “To inform the College that the JCR welcomes the Senior Tutor’s change of policy, but urges it to consider further action” . Such further action includes cooperating with the relevant OUSU officers to resolve the matter, and pursuing a process of reviewing applications which is “transparent and fully explained to the student concerned”.

The motion passed at last week’s General Meeting also noted that “not allowing students with suspended status to attend the Ball may be extremely distressing for those individuals affected” and “students suspend for a variety of reasons, most of which are on health rather than disciplinary grounds”. Also passed at the meeting were an expression of solidarity with “those students intermitted on medical grounds”, as well as a mandate to set up a focus group to consider intermission policy in general. These votes were passed unanimously, with more than 80 attending the meeting.

One Magdalen student, explaining to Cherwell why he had backed the JCR’s decision, said, “Whilst I’m normally against rusticated students being allowed to return to college – rustication is meant to be an opportunity for students to take a break from College life to recover – the Ball is an exceptional circumstance. It falls out of the term dates so should be seen as an opportunity to get together with friends and celebrate Magdalen life. “The current policy is not only discriminatory towards those with health issues, but it can also create further distress for them by their very exclusion and being denied the chance to see friends, especially since members of other colleges are all welcome.”

There appear to be some Magdalen students who are uncertain how far suspended students will benefit from the change: one noted that last year, when a similar case-by-case review was run, a number of suspended students were still not permitted to attend, and the JCR motion itself noted, “Whilst the 2015 policy is a step forward from the previous policy of an outright blanket ban, there is still a lot of room for improvement.” Some other members of the college seem broadly content with the progress made, with one commending the “more tactful approach” that was now being employed.

Others criticised the attitude of the College that they perceived this ‘error’ revealed. One Magdalen third-year commented, “It’s not really good enough for College to say that this was a simple mistake. Previous JCRs campaigned hard for this most basic of rights for intermitted students. Is this something you just ‘forget’? It just indicates a fuck-you attitude towards vulnerable students.”

Solidarity with rusticated students was also shown by Oxford University Student Union (OUSU) on Wednesday evening. A motion to create a campaign called the Suspended Status Campaign to push for more support to be given by colleges and the university to rusticated students passed unanimously.

The motion, proposed by Kate Cole and seconded by Cat Jones, noted that the number of students suspending their studies during their time at Oxford is increasing and that “there is little or no consistency between the colleges in regard to suspension policy or the information given to students who suspend their studies.”

It also noted, “There is little or no support for students who are suspended” and expressed belief that this needs to be changed.

The motion resolved to create the campaign and to mandate the Vice President of Access and Academic Affairs to “form an Executive for the Campaign and ensure the Executive endorses the draft constitution within a month of this motion passing.”

The motion passed unanimously without debate.